One Part Whiskey, Two Parts Risky
by Adira Tyree
Summary: Rose of Sharon Cassidy, Caesar's secret stash of Quantum, Vulpes Inculta sneakyman extraordinaire. Crack, fluff, smut, and science... Because Cassidy and Vulpes have to find a way to make new Quantum before Caesar finds out.


He stared down at her, watched her heaving chest as she shivered in the meager light the moon provided. She splashed a handful of water from the lake up onto her arm, brushing away the grit of the Mojave with slow, deliberate movements. There was no denying her beauty, not even by him.

Rose of Sharon Cassidy was not unknown to him. Often enough he would see her lurking within the bars and casinos of New Vegas and Freeside. She'd even tried to buy him a drink once. Declining the drink was easy; declining the company had taken more discipline.

With deft hands he crept down from the rock he'd been watching her from. Moving silently along the shore, he stood a few feet away, balancing himself on one of the rocks leading out into the water.

He cocked his head to the side. "You should know better than to bathe so close to Legion territory," he said, amused. "Someone might find and take advantage of you."

Her hands faltered only for a moment before she turned to face him. Vulpes could just barely make out her form beneath the water. She glanced up at him, allowing her eyes to wander along the skin of his bared chest.

"And you oughta know better than to wear a skirt and stand over people," she said with a smirk.

The tiniest grin washed over him. "It seems only fair, with you so exposed. Either way, this _is_ where _I_ come to bathe."

She shifted uneasily in the water; for all her smooth charm, she was still a woman and he was still a legionary, and she knew it.

"I won't do anything to you that you don't explicitly ask," he said, but her eyes told him that wasn't much of a comfort. With a shrug, he dropped the rest of his tunic to the ground, exposing the whole of his body to the night air.

Cassidy started to turn away, a hint of redness creeping into her cheeks, but stopped herself. It was, in most circumstances, unwise to turn your back to a member of Caesar's Legion. Her eyes locked with his as he stepped into the lake, watching still as he dunked his head under the water.

He ran his hands through his wet hair as he surfaced, brushing the short strands away from his forehead. It annoyed him that his hair was so long, but it wasn't quite long enough yet to justify cutting it, nor did he need to shave it for wearing the vexillarius hood anytime soon. He'd tried not to let it bother him, but the awkward length was worse than a swarm of gnats.

"Rose of Sharon Cassidy," Vulpes said, letting the name play on his tongue.

She watched him, brow furrowed. "Yes."

"Do you know who I am?" he asked. He kept his voice quiet and even, not wanting it to carry on the water. Any Legionary would throw a collar on her neck just to see the freckles up close; Vulpes, though, thought some beasts weren't meant to be tamed.

"Some Legion prick?" she suggested, cocking an eyebrow.

Vulpes laughed quietly. "Yes, that is a start." He started rubbing away the dirt from his skin, his fingernails leaving scratch-marks in their wake.

"Should I know you?"

"You already do. You've even tried to buy me a drink," he said with a grin.

She frowned, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I don't think I'd buy drinks for a Legion bitch, no matter how tanked I got."

"I'm sure you wouldn't," Vulpes agreed, cocking his head to the side again and brushing off the remark. "But you would have to know first that he was Legion."

Her eyes started to widen, but she checked herself into a forced-relaxation. "So you're one of those fruit-men whatevers."

Vulpes laughed, shaking his head. "Frumentarii."

"Whatever," she persisted. "You're all Legion, what's it matter?"

He laughed and ducked his head into the water again, running his fingers through his hair and scrubbing his scalp with his fingernails. "I suppose you are right, in your own way."

The two grew quiet when she didn't respond. She was hiding something, but he didn't care enough to find out. The woman was known for her erratic behavior and fiery temper, but no stupidity.

"So…" Cassidy started, trailing off. She kept her arms crossed over her chest, glancing across the water. She kept her gaze away from him, but didn't let him out of her range of view.

Vulpes raised an eyebrow, standing up straight. The thin hairs of his chest stood on end in the chilled air.

"How do we get out of here?" she asked, clearly not wanting to make the first move.

"Have you lost the use of your legs?" Vulpes asked, smirking.

Cassidy frowned down at him. "You know what I meant."

"And you know what I meant as well," Vulpes said, leaning back and floating his arms along the top of the water. "I walked in; I intend to walk out." He flipped over and pushed towards the shore with two powerful strokes of his arms, moving slowly towards the beach. The woman's eyes burned into his back.

"Are you coming?" he asked, looking over her shoulder at her.

"No," she said flatly, almost laughing. "Why the fuck would I follow _you_?"

Vulpes shrugged and didn't answer. Cassidy grumbled to herself, but he couldn't make out what she said beyond a string of curses and a rude reference towards the Legion. He laughed quietly and shook his head as he retrieved the lower-half of his tunic and stepped back into it. He didn't bother to belt it tightly, letting it hang loose on his hips.

"Did I really try to buy you a drink?" she asked, submerged up to her chin.

Vulpes grinned, brushing excess water from his arms. "The Atomic Wrangler, about two and a half months ago. You were teasing James Garret about the sexbot."

Cassidy rolled her eyes. "That happens at least once a week with me; doesn't tell me anything."

"Which is why I have no problem telling you," he said with a grin.

"So, what, you're just going to walk away and pretend you didn't see me?" she asked, glancing around nervously.

"If someone asks about you by name, I will answer them," he said, shrugging as he started the walk back to Cottonwood Cove. "Otherwise I have no reason to talk about who I shared my bath with, or that I shared it at all."

In the distance Vulpes could hear Legion mongrels snarling, then an angry shout followed by a yip. Apparently the dogs were just as restless as the men.

"Why do you trust me to not have a shotgun pointed at your back as soon as you get ten feet away?" Cassidy called. Her voice was quiet but he could hear her clearly in the still night.

Vulpes didn't even turn around, just kept walking. "Because I took it apart as soon as you got into the water," he called over her shoulder.

"_Shit_."

He couldn't help but laugh to himself when he heard the splashing as she scrambled for the shore.

* * *

Welcome to the Crack. This will be a short fic, a ficlet, in 12 parts, to commemorate reaching 50 followers on my Fallout tumblr. If you haven't checked it out already, you should! I'm an amateur prop maker with steady hands and a resourceful mind, fic writer, craptastic closet cosplayer (which, with increased funding when I get a job with better hours, I plan to make better), and writer of meta and theory. 98% of my posts on there are Fallout related or relating to my Fallout fics. Give it a look! adira-tyree dot tumblr dot com


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